Top Chef: Just Desserts (2010) s01e06 Episode Script
Black and White
Previously on Top Chef: Just Desserts Go Diva! Go Diva! Heather, Zac, and I, we've become team Go Diva.
- Diva.
- You're my Diva.
The're so, like, lame and, like, elitist.
Both: Whatever! People are a little bit threatened by the three of us.
Tough [Bleep.]
.
[Screaming.]
You each need to design an edible outfit that will match your shoes.
Yes! Damn, you's a sexy bitch.
I find Morgan very disrespectful.
Sassy.
I could have it on you in 10 minutes.
We'll save that for later, Zac.
Ok! I'm not quite sure what's the deal with the vegetables.
The actual look of it was amateurish.
Tonight's winner is Morgan.
Thank you.
You just won $20,000.
[Bleep.]
You! You are so afraid of me, it's ridiculous.
Heather, your dessert just didn't measure up.
Now seven Pastry Chefs remain to compete for a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, a German-engineered, sport-injected Buick Regal, and $100,000 furnished by Godiva Chocolatier.
Who has the creativity, the skill and the drive to win Top Chef: Just Desserts? Top Chef: Just Desserts 1x06 Black and White The last challenge, I was in the bottom again.
And that chips away at you when you don't feel like you're really progressing, yet you're still here.
I feel like I'm like two rams at each other.
You know, like, I feel good about what I'm doing.
The judges don't like what I'm doing.
So it's just this, like [makes noise.]
I'm glad you're sleeping next to me now that Heather C.
's gone.
Again.
[laughs.]
I wonder if she'll come back later today.
[Laughs.]
It was not a surprise to see Heather go.
Some of the things she put out, I just kind of have to wder about the talent level.
Now there's seven of us or And I think Danielle might go home next.
She's been at the bottom I can't even tell you how many times.
But I'd rather see Morgan sent home.
He just doesn't play fair.
He degrades women like he's just kind of this very annoying bug that I just want to stomp on.
All right, guys.
Let's go.
Good morning, Chefs.
All: Good morning, Gail.
I'd like to introduce you to your guest judge for this round, Award-Winning Chef and Author, an Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin in New York City, Chef Michael Laiskonis.
Good morning, Chefs.
[Applause.]
Chef Michael Laiskonis is definitely intimidating.
Le Bernardin is one of the best restaurants in the world.
Michael Laiskonis is very scary.
He understands everything about pastry.
Beside us, you'll see an array of ingredients that most people don't associate with dessert.
[Laughs.]
Pastry Chefs are using these savory ingredients and flavors to create bold and interesting new desserts.
I've been raiding the savory kitchen for years.
You have to find the balance between boldness and restraint.
For your Dawn Hand Renewal quickfire challenge, we want you to make us a delicious and interesting savory dessert.
Um, I don't cook real food.
I don't even eat real food.
I eat potato chips and ice cream.
So, I am really nervous.
We're going to make this quickfire a little more challenging.
You'll be making your savory desserts with just one pot.
Normal pastry kitchen equipment like mixers, blenders and ice eam machines are off limits.
For a Pastry Chef, a one-pot meal, it's not really practical.
Like, I am baffled, baffled.
Baffled.
You can Wash it as many times as you need, knowing that Dawn Hand Renewal will help your hands seal in the moisture while you do the dishes.
The winner of this quickfire will receive immunity in the next elimination challenge.
You have one hour.
Your time starts now.
I dashed like a madman, and my hands hit the beets at the same time as Zac's.
And I just ripped it off the bunch.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Slow down.
Morgan is just very aggressive, and he elbows me on the lips.
I mean, come on, he's like twice as big as I am.
I could have been hurt.
I've got a big ass bump.
Look at my lip.
Oh, Jesus.
Yeah, thanks to Morgan.
That's not cool.
No, it isn't.
If you go to the post, and Shaq knocks you on your ass, you learn not to go to the post with Shaq.
47 minutes! This is a really hard challenge.
As Pastry Chefs, we're used to having all of these fancy little tools.
So to only have one pot, it's crazy.
Whoo! Who needs the gym? If you need bacon, it's down here.
You have bacon? Yeah.
Right down there.
Thank you.
I am so, so mad.
He took all the bacon.
You know, this is a competition.
But I'm tired of dealing with this [Bleep.]
.
It's under the table, and that's [Bleep.]
up.
Zac, Heather, and Yigit, the team "Go Diva"-- it's getting on my nerves.
13 minutes! I never cut Foie gras before.
You're doing it fine.
Growing up, definitely, my mom was an awesome cook.
And she made a lot of one-pot meals.
I remember when I was a kid I would never be allowed in the kitchen, and my parents would always say it's not a place for a boy to be.
And then when I first came out of the closet, my family had an initial shock, and I think that's due to culture.
But they have come so far in such a short period of time.
They're very loving and understanding, and I think that's pretty great.
Chefs, you have five minutes.
Five minutes left.
[Laughs.]
God, this is fun! The ice cream machines are off-limits for this challenge.
There's only one way to make sorbet now.
Liquid nitrogen.
I'd just like to warn everyone that this will actually be the first time ever that I play with that [Bleep.]
.
[Machine whirring.]
Wow! That's [Bleep.]
cold.
I know.
Oh, great.
That's really going to work.
2 minutes, 27 seconds.
Whoo! Pressure's on.
Time's up.
Tools down.
Hi, Zac.
Hey, Gail, Chef.
Talk to us.
Tell us what you made.
It's a red and golden beet steamed cake with a little sweet goat cheese cream on top and a lemon thyme gremolata.
How did you make the goat cheese lighter and fluffier? A little bit of mascarpone, heavy cream, and a little bit of sugar.
Thank you.
Hi, Eric.
Tell us what you made.
So I really like the sweet and savory breakfast idea.
So I made couscous with milk at the bottom, and then apricot and fig compote.
And then I like to have some meats on top.
So I put some prosciutto.
Do you typically work with savory ingredients? I never work with savory ingredients.
I did the ode to that great salad that you take to so many summer barbecues.
So I tossed avocado with honey and lime juice.
And then candied tomato slices.
And then I made a basil anglaise and caramelized corn.
How did you treat the corn exactly? I just sliced it off the cob, caramelized sugar, and just Thank you.
Thanks.
I want to call this dish "back to my roots.
" We've got a sweet potato risotto, a golden beet sorbet, and some sweet fried ginger-infused carrot.
Hmm.
That's got a lot of beet flavor.
Thank you.
Thanks, Morgan.
Yigit, tell us about your creation.
All right, I made a chocolate cremeux with a little bacon fat and some caramelized Foie gras garnished with a little sea salt.
And then I just put a little bit of pink peppercorn for color as well.
I wanted to do a nice, light, refreshing summer dessert.
And so on the bottom is a sour cream corn custard and then a roasted beet red Berry compote, and then I did a little mascarpone cream on top.
The berry and beet compote, was that cooked? The beets were cooked, but I didn't want to overcook it and make it mushy.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Heather.
Chef Michael, let's start with your least favorite desserts.
Danielle, I almost thought that your dessert wasn't even sweet enough, and the corn seemed a little raw.
And, Eric, your dessert was probably the least dessert-like of all.
I mean, even you said that it was kind of inspired by breakfast.
And your prosciutto was kind of just an afterthought.
And, Heather, the way it was layered, we couldn't really taste the bacon, and some of your beets were a little undercooked.
Now, who are your top three choices? I would have to say Morgan.
I really appreciate the risk that you took by using liquid nitrogen for the first time.
Thank you.
Zac I thought your cake was beautiful.
It was warm.
It was moist.
You really got the beet flavor.
Thanks.
And then Yigit-- awesome refined plates, and you went bold and used both Foie gras and bacon.
Thanks, Chef.
So of those three, who was your favorite? I would have to say Zac.
OhFinally.
[laughs.]
Whoo! Always a bridesmaid, never a bride until today.
I am no longer the Susan Lucci of Top Chef: Just Desserts.
[Sighs.]
Whoo! And it means so much more coming from Michael Laiskonis.
He's amazing.
Congratulations, Zac.
That means you have immunity in our next elimination challenge.
Whoo! Unless you'd like some cash instead.
How much are we talking? Are you willing to trade your immunity for $1,000? So now you're negotiating with me? I like your style.
There's one more Chef gone.
There's a little bit more at stake.
I'm this much closer to $100,000.
So I'm not just going to take the $1,000.
Would you be willing to trade it for $5,000? 5k, buddy.
Do it, do it, do it, do it.
I'll do it for 5.
[laughs.]
I will trade my immunity for $5,000.
Ok.
[bleep.]
.
You now have $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal and will not have immunity in the next elimination challenge.
Let's see if you made the right decision.
I feel great that I finally won something, but since I sold my immunity, now I'm nervous.
And immediately I regret it.
For your next elimination challenge [Screams.]
The L.
A.
Times is one of the oldest institutions in Los Angeles.
Tomorrow night, they're celebrating their 128th year with a black and white party for staff and friends.
For your next elimination challenge, you'll be catering the event with desserts that must all be Black and white.
[Screams.]
I hate white foods.
There's a lot of creepy white foods like mayonnaise.
Even saying mayonnaise makes my body go "uugh!" It's just so disgusting.
Just like a newspaper headline, all of the things that you make must be only black and white.
And you'll want to use that contrast to your advantage.
Remember, just because your palette of color is limited doesn't man your flavor has to be.
It's a difficult thing for a Pastry Chef to make a black and white dessert because we're constantly trained to use colors, because, as we say in turkey [speaks turkish.]
Which means that you should want to eat the food with your eyes before you eat it with your mouth.
Each of you will be responsible for making 200 black and white desserts.
You'll have $500 and 30 minutes to shop at Albertsons.
You'll then have four hours to prep here in the Top Chef kitchen and then one hour to prep before the event tomorrow.
Good luck.
I need some help.
I've never had to do anything that was just black and white.
Maybe it's under here.
I absolutely love color.
You know, all my desserts have some sort of color.
It makes me a little bit nervous.
[Laughs.]
I have absolutely no idea what I'm making, none.
Black and white food is going to be really tricky, especially for me.
I man, they don't make black disco dust.
Dear God, I will give you back the $5,000 for immunity.
Thanks, heart Zac.
18 minutes! I've been in the bottom a lot recently.
I usually used to it by now.
I'm just waiting to hear my name.
I mean, it bothers me, but I have to stop moping around.
Luckily, I am very confident with black and white food.
I work with chocolate.
I work with cream.
I'm going to do like a play on a Mississippi mud pie.
Ooh! I make all sorts of desserts that have that contrast.
So I totally feel like I have an advantage today.
[Beeping.]
Thank you.
Have a great day.
You too.
Thanks for your help.
Hey, Yigit, what are you doing? My hands are like a ninja.
You can't keep up, right? I'm a total news junkie.
So I do like the concept behind this challenge.
I'm going to try and stay true to the color palette.
So I'm making a flourless chocolate cake with layers of tempered dark and white chocolate, dark tea ganache, white mousse, and cherry compote with almond milk ice cream.
Are you copying me with the tea, Yigit? Yeah, you're onto me.
My sister, Yigit, you know, we're on the same wavelengths.
Shady lady.
However, even if you gave Yigit and myself the same ingredients, we could never make the same dessert.
You're not competition for me because we're completely [Bleep.]
Different.
Which is why I haven't killed him yet.
So your back is safe, boo boo.
Well, I'm glad to know that.
Tired already.
Oh, my God! Zac, close the freezer.
The headline I would give my dessert is local girl shows her pride for the newspaper of her city.
That's my theme.
My dish is literally celebrating the 128 years of the L.
A.
Times by making a truffle in the shape of a 1.
A baked meringue, number 2.
And then the 8 is two chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies.
1 hour 50 minutes.
Does this taste too bitter for you? It doesn't have the eggs in it yet.
No, I think it's fine.
The dish I'm making is a deep-fried whoopie pie.
I would never do that.
What I'm doing right now is just like some wrecked chocolate.
A deep-fried whoopie pie has been a signature dish of mine for a year or so.
I stumbled onto it by accident at the restaurant.
I think this is a great contender to win because I'm frying to order.
I mean, frying is exciting.
I really need to stop drinking before challenges.
Halfway through, things are not going well.
And I'm mixing the egg yolks with the sugar, and it's looking really thick.
And I realize I don't have enough egg yolks in this dish.
Are you out of the mixer? [Bleep.]
I just need to get on the mixer.
I'm hogging up the mixer, and Erica gets really mad at me, and I feel awful.
I've got a bowl.
I know.
I--I can't remember my freaking recipe.
So it was very stressful.
Jesus [Bleep.]
Christ.
Hey, Chefs! Hi, Chef.
Erica.
I'm doing a white chocolate blackberry pave.
So my blackberry is not as dark as I want it to be, but it's as dark as I can get it.
Removing the colors from the pantry of a pasty Chef changes the game entirely.
One of the biggest obstacles of the Chefs is incorporating flavor from different things that they want to use without actually introducing the color into the dessert.
It's purple more than black.
Got to be black.
I'll have great flavors, though.
Yeah? All right.
I hope so.
Yeah.
Hi, Chef.
Hey, Eric.
How are you? What's going on today? I want to do a Mississippi mud cake.
Is Mississippi mud something you make often in the bakery? Maybe four or five times a year.
But that's what I think of when I think black and white, and it's my style.
Just about every challenge, they ream me for my plating.
This challenge I really want to focus on the presentation and kind of make it more classy.
Hopefully, I'll be able to just give it a little more of a fancy flair.
Thank you, Chef.
Good luck.
Eric describes his dessert as his version of a Mississippi mud pie.
There's nothing so special about it.
It should be in the back pocket of every pasty Chef.
I don't know how he's going to elevate this.
Hey, Johnny, how are you? Hey, Heather.
I'm making a chocolate torte with a rich chocolate cake on the bottom.
The headline for my dish would be "the bold and the beautiful" because it's gonna be vibrant.
It's gonna be bold flavors, and hopefully it's gonna be beautiful to look at.
And then I made a gingerbread cake which I actually sprinkled some dried cranberries, some pomegranate juice.
Well, pomegranates and cranberries are red.
Hopefully, it's going to look more black than red.
Hope! I'm happy to see that Heather made her own gingerbread, but the thing that makes me a little scared is she's using cranberries and pomegranates.
That's bright red.
We're making a dessert that celebrates a newspaper.
I think of blocks and columns, and I have a dessert in my mind that celebrates that concept.
It's going to have a lot of components and a real architectural structure.
The black and white elements are toffee-soaked chocolate cake with banana anise cream.
The chocolate cake itself comes out very red from the cocoa powder.
However, once the toffee syrup soaks it, it takes on this real dark, shiny color.
Oh, God, that's like 80 pounds of cake.
8 minutes and 34 seconds.
Time is ending for prep, and my personal headline for myself would be "black girl is tired.
" I can't fold this.
I feel a little nervous about the blackberry being a lighter color, but I feel very confident about my ice cream.
I'm known for my ice creams back home, so know it's going to be great.
Both: it's Heather with an "h" not Heather with a "c" because Heather with a "c" goes ewww! [laughs.]
I'm going to [Bleep.]
Lose my mind.
After a loud, crazy day in the kitchen, you really don't want to be berated with show tunes and flamboyance.
Papa Nazi I'm definitely going to hurt somebody, and I'm going to get removed from the premises.
[Laughs.]
Why would it be on here, and then it's gone? Team "Go Diva," I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.
Hi, guys! [grunts.]
I could still thro pretty far.
Today's elimination challenge is a black and white gala to celebrate the L.
A.
Times' 128th Anniversary.
Heather, just a reminder.
These up here are my chocolates.
Everything's black and white decor.
They have these huge posters of the biggest headlines in our history.
My only concern when I see all the black and white is maybe I should have listened to Johnny as far as color, but there's nothing I can do at this point.
Heather, can I grab your burner? Yes, yes, grab it.
Thanks.
We have an hour to finalize our desserts.
The first thing I do is get my oil going.
Next, I have to individually batter and roll in panko 200 small whoopie pies.
23 minutes! How you doing, Morganza? This is a train wreck day.
Yesterday, I dumped a huge amount of syrup on the cake.
Son of a bitch.
Unfortunately, the syrup ran through the cake, and it didn't soak in.
So I've got to soak it again.
And at this point, I'm just trying to save it.
Nine minutes! Thank you, nine.
Nine? Time to hustle.
Today, on site I need to temper my ice cream, finish cooking my compote, and mainly start cutting my ganache and assembling all my many pieces of desserts together.
Yigit, what are you making? Chocolate mille feuille Napoleon.
As I like to say, you call it Napoleon, you charge 5 bucks.
You call it a french name, you charge 20 bucks.
I don't understand what Yigit does.
I can understand all the other Chefs, but Yigit I don't get.
I just see that he's cutting out little squares and cutting out little squares and assembling and assembling.
So he's got so much going on.
You got it, daddy.
I feel good about my food and the flavors.
And I'm definitely taking into consideration Chef Iuzzini's past comments about creating texture in the dessert.
Oh [Bleep.]
! My only concern is I think I may have cooked my compote a little bit too much.
It's a little bit thicker than I wanted it to be.
Has anybody seen a hashi pan of white chocolate rice krispie treats? I saw one yesterday on Yigit's rack, I thought.
Now it's gone.
I can't really prove anything, but I think Morgan is trying to sabotage me.
I don't trust him.
Why would it be on here, and then it's gone? If you're talented, you can play fair and still come out on top.
It's gone.
I don't know what is going on around here.
Apparently, Heather Can't find her pans.
I saw them last night when we packed them.
Yeah, I know.
And they all blame me for it.
That's bull.
Which is [Bleep.]
.
Team Go Diva, they're backstabbing 2-faced liars.
Must have legs 'cause it just walked away.
And I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.
I could still throw them pretty far.
14 seconds! [Grunts.]
Be ready.
Hi, how are you? This is a lemon poppy seed ice cream.
Wow.
Our guests show up, and it's like crazy.
And it was very neat to see everyone dressed in black and white.
It goes along great with the blackberries.
I'm scooping my ice cream to order just so that they can get a nice scoop.
And I think they're enjoying my drunken blackberries.
They're soaked in absolut overnight.
I thought everybody deserved a little shot this afternoon.
Hi, Yigit.
Hello.
I made a very, very moist chocolate cake, and it's a take on a mille feuille, obviously.
There's a dark chocolate plaque underneath and a dark tea ganache, a little white chocolate mousse and another white chocolate plaque tempered.
And I cooked dark cherries with some red wine, and then folded in some blackberries to make a blackberry cherry compote.
And I have a little bit of almond milk ice cream.
It's a lot of love on one little plate.
We like love.
Thank you, guys.
Enjoy.
Hi, Erica! So I have a lemon poppy seed ice cream, a white chocolate pave with a blackberry creme brulee, on top of a bisques cone that's brushed with a little bit of chocolate underneath.
I have just a little bit of dark chocolate on my dessert but not much.
I told you this is a black and white party, and you should maybe figure out a way to get it a little bit darker, so Yeah, but I didn't want to take that Berry flavor away.
Everybody else was doing dark chocolate.
You know, I'm taking a risk, and I hope you guys like it.
Thanks a lot.
The dark chocolate's kind of strong, though.
Yigit was so creative to make the fruit the thing that he tried to use as his black element.
As I dig into this compote, it's really thick and gummy.
And I have a feeling he over-reduced it, trying to get it sdark.
Yigit packed a lot into this little plate.
There's a lot here, but I think, at least individually, it all works.
The world of ganache is endless.
I like that Erica said, "everybody else is doing chocolate.
I want to do something different.
" That is an important thing in a big walkaround event like this.
But the ice cream has this strange flavor to it.
It takes a little like glue.
It's a little soapy.
That's right.
The word is spreading through the room that I have something deep frying.
So my plan is working out brilliantly.
Hi, Zac.
This is what I call "the whoopie pie goes on vacation.
" You know, I love deep frying.
So the whoopie pie is laying out on the beach getting nice and crisp.
It's had some tropical juices.
So it's filled with passion fruit cream.
We also have some guanabana-infused asian pear for texture and some of that tropical feeling.
My goodness.
You can hear Zac's voice over the crowd, ringing out.
This whoopie pie has a tan.
[echo.]
Tan tan It comes out with this Julie Andrews quality.
Hi, guys! As though he's singing it from the hilltops in the Swiss Alps.
The bigger the hair, the higher to Jesus.
Like, turn it off.
It gets old.
All mixed in.
I love that Zac brought in a lot of different flavors that you wouldn't necessarily associate with the whoopie pie.
The Asian pear, which I think is a lovely textural element, super white.
And then, of course, the passion fruit.
Unfortunately, the passion doesn't really come through that strong.
His cake is really sweet, and especially the cream filling inside is almost like liquid sugar.
It's a lot of heavy and sticky.
Hi, Morgan.
Hi there! When they print the newspaper, it's all in blocks and columns.
So I wanted to make my dessert in those same blocks and columns.
I made a version of sticky toffee pudding here.
So it's a chocolate date cake soaked with toffee syrup.
On top of that is some banana anise cream.
On top of that is just a small cube of coffee Kahlua jelly.
It's very South Beach.
It's a little bit South Beach.
Yeah, it's a little deco.
Thank you, guys.
Hi, how are you? What I'm doing is dark chocolate spicy torte.
And the spice comes from a layer of gingerbread in the center.
It's a dark chocolate cake on the bottom with dark chocolate ganache, vanilla cream on top, frozen creme anglaise with a little bit of Grand Marnier, a blackberry compote with a little bit of candied ginger, and then the chocolate lines represent the lines of the newspaper.
I do see some red on the plate.
Do you think you really grabbed a hold of that black and white? Yes, I still wanted to use those flavors to give it a richness to the gingerbread and the blackberry.
So Thank you so much, Heather.
Yes.
Doesn't Morgan's dessert look like a little building? It's elaborately constructed.
You know, I was really worried about Morgan's dessert being overly sweet.
It's the nature of the cake, but I think he did a good job with the anise and banana kind of pulling that back a little bit.
I find Morgan's cake really dry and not at all what I was expecting from a sticky toffee pudding.
It's like Morgan was loosely inspired by sticky toffee pudding.
I like the coffee flavor.
You know, I vocalized my concerns yesterday with Heather.
I was worried about the red.
I said, ok, maybe she'll bury it in the cake.
We'll taste it and not see it.
And, unfortunately, we do have a lot of red on our plate.
I like the gingerbread flavor.
That's the highlight for sure.
It's a tasty little number.
The gingerbread works so well with the chocolate.
Hello! Hi! How are you? Hi, Eric.
I've made a play on a Mississippi mud cake.
So at the bottom we have a cookie layer.
On top of that is a flourless chocolate cake.
On top of that, a chocolate pastry with whipped cream, a whip cream with a little tiny bit of Earl Grey flavor.
And this is a hot fudge sauce on the side.
Eric, I have to say, your plating skills Ah, thank you! I noticed.
You're working on it.
Working on the plating skills.
Thank you so much.
That means a lot to me.
Thank you.
For Gail to say that to me, I've struggled so hard with plating.
And now she's saying my plates look great.
And it's just-- it's a perfect moment.
Thank you.
Thanks so much, Eric.
Bye-bye.
Is it black and white? How do you feel about the contrast here, Johnny? You use a black cocoa powder to get it that dark.
The cream is white.
He's within the realm.
I think so, too.
I think it's pretty hard to get true black in the pastry world.
I think it's great that Eric's finally, like, finding his way out of his category of being a Baker.
And, you know, I would think this came from a Pastry Chef in a restaurant.
This is delicious.
I'm the only from L.
A.
so I wanted to be like extra L.
A.
! 128! Hi, Danielle.
Ok, so mine is the literal dessert because I'm literally celebrating the 128 years of the L.
A.
Times being in publication.
The "1" is a truffle that has lemongrass and ginger and a little coconut in it.
The "2" is a baked meringue that has white peppercorns and coconuts.
And then the "8" is a cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie.
Enjoy.
Thank you.
Looking around the room, I feel Danielle might go home today.
Her plate isn't a dessert, it's kindf a series of petifores.
Honestly, it looks kind of like an amateur mistake.
I'm not one to talk smack.
I'm impressed with Danielle's playfulness.
She really did something completely different here.
But something to me about this presentation, it's not cohesive.
It's not a composed dessert.
It's almost like a petifore plate.
And, as a whole, I feel Danielle's dessert is sweet across the board.
Um, not so good.
[laughs.]
I think we're going to have a really hard time making a decision tonight.
Let's go back to the judge's table and see what we come up with.
I don't think there was a bad dish that we had tonight.
Made me happy.
Made us happy.
It's orgasmic.
Awesome.
I'm really confident about the flavors of my dessert.
The guests love it, and several of them said that it was their favorite dessert.
I like the delicacy between the various layers.
I'd say 95% of it was black and white.
But I'm still worried.
I've never been in the bottom three during an elimination challenge.
And I don't want to have to start today.
All: Yay! Yay! It didn't really taste like much.
That's actually a cop out.
[Laughs.]
Eat that one.
Could you come here, please? We need to have an intervention.
On team diva, we have a lot of inside jokes.
Dear, Zac, I know that in that tiny little body of yours, there's even a tinier little girl dying to come out.
[Laughs.]
It hurts me to see you in the kitchen.
You have no talent! I always mess with Zac because he's definitely a bit of a Frankenstein Pastry Chef.
He's like a very flamboyant man with a very butch palette.
So, will you please go to the clinic? I--I can't do it.
Oh, come on now! Let go.
I have to go.
[Laughter.]
Anyone else have anything missing off their racks today? You had something missing? Heather's-- I did.
Rice krispies.
You did? Did it materialize? No, and it's kind of, like, really shocking.
Hi.
All: Hi.
Hey, Gail.
We'd like to see Heather, Erica, and Danielle.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Wow.
Whatever.
[Sighs.]
I shouldn't have sacrificed immunity.
My insides are shaking, ladies and gentlemen.
Happy thoughts have fled the building.
[Sighs.]
[Suspensefeful music.]
Chefs, yours were our least favorite desserts this evening.
And, unfortunately, one of you will be going home tonight.
Let's start with you, Heather.
Are you surprised to be here? I'm not sure.
Was your dessert how you envisioned it? Yeah, yeah.
I was happy with it, yeah.
Heather, this challenge was all about black and white, and your dessert seemed more like harvesty and just visually it wasn't black and white.
I was trying to integrate some different flavors in there, have the flavors really show through.
I appreciated your flavors.
I thought the gingerbread flavor was great.
I'm just wondering if you stuck to your guns on what you were trying to accomplish without adapting to the actual challenge.
Erica.
The blackberry creme brulee wasn't as dark as I wanted it to be.
But I love my lemon poppy seed ice cream.
Nice and creamy the way I wanted it.
You love that ice cream? I enjoyed it.
It was nice and light.
It's not a texture issue.
It's a flavor issue.
It didn't taste like lemon at all.
That ice cream tasted a little bit like soap.
It was really disappointing.
I was intrigued by your decision to use blackberry.
Yet we almost didn't feel like you exploited it enough.
The blackberry layer that you called a creme brulee, I couldn't find the blackberry at all.
Danielle.
It's just hard when you do things you like, like the way it tastes.
It was black and white.
I thought it was fitting to what the actual event was.
Danielle, the meringue didn't really taste like much.
Essentially, I would have to ask if you thought about how each of those 3 components United and came together.
I guess, and perhaps that's what got me in trouble, I thought of it more creatively.
You know, that's actually a cop out, saying you were being creative and you weren't thinking-- did you eat your 1-2-8 in order? I didn't eat it in order.
But I think that's something you should have taken consideration of.
You should have said, "I have 3 different things.
Maybe I should figure out what's the best way to eat them in" and then instruct the diners to then eat them that way.
That way, they get the most pact from your flavors.
You can return to the stew room.
And if you could please call back all the guys.
Thank you.
I knew I should have just draped everything in feuille mille.
[Laughs.]
I thought I liked my dish, though.
I liked my dish, too.
I liked mine.
I liked mine.
I really liked yours, and I'm not just saying that.
No, I know.
It really was delicious.
But it doesn't matter.
And it was black and white.
And Danielle's plate, I don't-I don't know, it was a 1, a meringue, 2, an 8 cookie-- I have no idea what it was, I couldn't get it.
It's silly.
It just sucks to think that one dish-- could send you home.
They want to see all of you.
Oh, come on.
All right, boys.
I'm not ready for this [Bleep.]
.
None of my [Bleep.]
Ever tasted like soap.
So, Danielle[laughs.]
Eat that one.
The thing that sucks is I don't want the boys to Dominate.
[Suspenseful music.]
You were the four best desserts tonight.
[Sighs.]
Congratulations.
Thank God.
[laughs.]
Zac, you gave up immunity for $5,000.
You still happy you did that? Now I am.
[laughter.]
Zac, I love the way your mind works.
And what partygoer wouldn't want to devour a whoopie pie on vacation? Then when we cut into the whoopie pie and saw that beautiful black and white and creaminess, it really embraced the theme.
Thanks.
Zac, you hit a homerun with your ice cream today.
The cameo was just enough.
It held up against the chocolate.
Thank you.
Morgan, blocks and white.
I was impressed with the confidence at which you attacked the challenge.
Thank you.
Morgan, your dessert was a construction project.
It looked fantastic.
The tastes were delicious.
And I was really impressed.
Thank you very much.
Eric.
I was really impressed with the way that you layered all the textures and the way that those textures combine together in one cohesive package.
Thank you, thank you.
Eric, you've come so far.
Oh! This is the best dessert you've given us so far.
Thank you.
You've done a great job in adapting your style to the challenges.
Thank you.
Yigit.
You packed so much into that dessert, Yigit.
It was technically complex, and it really stood out.
You definitely showed us what you're capable of.
My favorite part was that hidden plaquette of chocolate that gave you that texture as you went through everything.
Tasted great.
Thank you.
Well, Michael, as our guest judge, please announce the winner.
It was a very tough decision.
But the winner was the one who best embraced the spirit of the challenge and showed us the greatest technical skill.
And the winner is Yigit.
[Applause.]
Thank you.
I feel great.
I finally tasted the forbidden fruit.
My first elimination challenge win, and it tasted pretty bloody good.
Congratulations, Yigit.
[sighs.]
You can all return to the stew room.
Thank you, Chefs.
I think people definitely see me as a good competitor in this.
And I'm definitely feeling good about being here, as good as I'll feel about being in the final three.
Yay! [laughs.]
[Sighs.]
You ready to go? Good for you, buddy.
Good for you.
Good job.
There were a lot of flaws made by each of these 3 Chefs.
I think Danielle didn't think enough about how the guests were going to eat her dessert.
Besides the fact that I think it was just light in flavor.
Rule number one in pastry and all cooking is that presentation comes second.
She was creative, but she put that creativity before the flavor and how the diner experiences the dish.
I don't know how to cook for another palette other than mine.
I don't know what else to do.
Erica's dessert, she put blackberry and several different components which I didn't get a blackberry taste from at all.
And then there was, of course, her poppy seed and lemon ice cream.
That ice cream was unappealing, it was flat.
I had one bite, and I said, "that can't be right.
" The ice cream was definitely Erica's downfall.
"Well, your ice cream tastes like soap.
" Tastes like soap? I make ice cream my entire career, and I live off of ice cream.
Heather seemed to really rely on the fact that she has this technical skill, but I thought the overall concept sort of fell flat.
I sense that Heather has a stubbornness that she's pretty much fixated on what she's going to do regardless of the challenge.
I thought her ginger flavor was great, but it wasn't in any way inventive or interesting to look at or to eat.
Well, it sounds like we've made our decision.
Think so.
Let's bring them out here.
[Suspenseful music.]
Chefs, your black and white desserts were our least favorites tonight, and that means one of you is going home.
Danielle, this is far from the first time we've seen you in the bottom three.
You presented us with a dish that you stood behind.
Unfortunately, we had a lot of issues with it.
Heather, you put out the dessert that you wanted to put out without embracing the challenge.
We know what you're capable of, but yet you find a way to sabotage yourself.
Erica, one of the star components of your dish just tasted bad.
I think you over-think what you're doing, and you forget about the most important thing, the flavor.
Erica, your dessert just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Thank you.
I put everything that I have in these desserts here.
My heart, my soul, passion, love.
And I'm very proud of what I did.
I beat you, baby.
Margaritas.
Are you serious? I'm going to miss my new friends.
I'm proud to be in the company of their great talents.
I made it this far, and it made me realize that I'm a lot stronger than what I thought I was going to be.
Miss you too.
If I can handle this, I can handle anything.
Bye, guys.
You be good.
I've learned to continue to be real to myself, and I'm very proud of myself.
Next time on Top Chef: Just Desserts.
[Whistling.]
Team diva's on one side, and team loser is on the other side.
Feel the burn! This is gonna be easy for me.
We're putting a sweet spin on Top Chef restaurant wars.
Yes! Yigit took them all.
I did not take your lemons.
Yigit's a great cook, but he's a selfish prick, too.
[Bleep.]
You and all the bitch-ass [Bleep.]
In this [Bleep.]
Room.
Jesus Christ all [Bleep.]
Mighty! Who put this-is this--? Zac? I feel like this might be the end of team diva.
Shut up.
Did you just tell me to shut up?
- Diva.
- You're my Diva.
The're so, like, lame and, like, elitist.
Both: Whatever! People are a little bit threatened by the three of us.
Tough [Bleep.]
.
[Screaming.]
You each need to design an edible outfit that will match your shoes.
Yes! Damn, you's a sexy bitch.
I find Morgan very disrespectful.
Sassy.
I could have it on you in 10 minutes.
We'll save that for later, Zac.
Ok! I'm not quite sure what's the deal with the vegetables.
The actual look of it was amateurish.
Tonight's winner is Morgan.
Thank you.
You just won $20,000.
[Bleep.]
You! You are so afraid of me, it's ridiculous.
Heather, your dessert just didn't measure up.
Now seven Pastry Chefs remain to compete for a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival, a German-engineered, sport-injected Buick Regal, and $100,000 furnished by Godiva Chocolatier.
Who has the creativity, the skill and the drive to win Top Chef: Just Desserts? Top Chef: Just Desserts 1x06 Black and White The last challenge, I was in the bottom again.
And that chips away at you when you don't feel like you're really progressing, yet you're still here.
I feel like I'm like two rams at each other.
You know, like, I feel good about what I'm doing.
The judges don't like what I'm doing.
So it's just this, like [makes noise.]
I'm glad you're sleeping next to me now that Heather C.
's gone.
Again.
[laughs.]
I wonder if she'll come back later today.
[Laughs.]
It was not a surprise to see Heather go.
Some of the things she put out, I just kind of have to wder about the talent level.
Now there's seven of us or And I think Danielle might go home next.
She's been at the bottom I can't even tell you how many times.
But I'd rather see Morgan sent home.
He just doesn't play fair.
He degrades women like he's just kind of this very annoying bug that I just want to stomp on.
All right, guys.
Let's go.
Good morning, Chefs.
All: Good morning, Gail.
I'd like to introduce you to your guest judge for this round, Award-Winning Chef and Author, an Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin in New York City, Chef Michael Laiskonis.
Good morning, Chefs.
[Applause.]
Chef Michael Laiskonis is definitely intimidating.
Le Bernardin is one of the best restaurants in the world.
Michael Laiskonis is very scary.
He understands everything about pastry.
Beside us, you'll see an array of ingredients that most people don't associate with dessert.
[Laughs.]
Pastry Chefs are using these savory ingredients and flavors to create bold and interesting new desserts.
I've been raiding the savory kitchen for years.
You have to find the balance between boldness and restraint.
For your Dawn Hand Renewal quickfire challenge, we want you to make us a delicious and interesting savory dessert.
Um, I don't cook real food.
I don't even eat real food.
I eat potato chips and ice cream.
So, I am really nervous.
We're going to make this quickfire a little more challenging.
You'll be making your savory desserts with just one pot.
Normal pastry kitchen equipment like mixers, blenders and ice eam machines are off limits.
For a Pastry Chef, a one-pot meal, it's not really practical.
Like, I am baffled, baffled.
Baffled.
You can Wash it as many times as you need, knowing that Dawn Hand Renewal will help your hands seal in the moisture while you do the dishes.
The winner of this quickfire will receive immunity in the next elimination challenge.
You have one hour.
Your time starts now.
I dashed like a madman, and my hands hit the beets at the same time as Zac's.
And I just ripped it off the bunch.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Slow down.
Morgan is just very aggressive, and he elbows me on the lips.
I mean, come on, he's like twice as big as I am.
I could have been hurt.
I've got a big ass bump.
Look at my lip.
Oh, Jesus.
Yeah, thanks to Morgan.
That's not cool.
No, it isn't.
If you go to the post, and Shaq knocks you on your ass, you learn not to go to the post with Shaq.
47 minutes! This is a really hard challenge.
As Pastry Chefs, we're used to having all of these fancy little tools.
So to only have one pot, it's crazy.
Whoo! Who needs the gym? If you need bacon, it's down here.
You have bacon? Yeah.
Right down there.
Thank you.
I am so, so mad.
He took all the bacon.
You know, this is a competition.
But I'm tired of dealing with this [Bleep.]
.
It's under the table, and that's [Bleep.]
up.
Zac, Heather, and Yigit, the team "Go Diva"-- it's getting on my nerves.
13 minutes! I never cut Foie gras before.
You're doing it fine.
Growing up, definitely, my mom was an awesome cook.
And she made a lot of one-pot meals.
I remember when I was a kid I would never be allowed in the kitchen, and my parents would always say it's not a place for a boy to be.
And then when I first came out of the closet, my family had an initial shock, and I think that's due to culture.
But they have come so far in such a short period of time.
They're very loving and understanding, and I think that's pretty great.
Chefs, you have five minutes.
Five minutes left.
[Laughs.]
God, this is fun! The ice cream machines are off-limits for this challenge.
There's only one way to make sorbet now.
Liquid nitrogen.
I'd just like to warn everyone that this will actually be the first time ever that I play with that [Bleep.]
.
[Machine whirring.]
Wow! That's [Bleep.]
cold.
I know.
Oh, great.
That's really going to work.
2 minutes, 27 seconds.
Whoo! Pressure's on.
Time's up.
Tools down.
Hi, Zac.
Hey, Gail, Chef.
Talk to us.
Tell us what you made.
It's a red and golden beet steamed cake with a little sweet goat cheese cream on top and a lemon thyme gremolata.
How did you make the goat cheese lighter and fluffier? A little bit of mascarpone, heavy cream, and a little bit of sugar.
Thank you.
Hi, Eric.
Tell us what you made.
So I really like the sweet and savory breakfast idea.
So I made couscous with milk at the bottom, and then apricot and fig compote.
And then I like to have some meats on top.
So I put some prosciutto.
Do you typically work with savory ingredients? I never work with savory ingredients.
I did the ode to that great salad that you take to so many summer barbecues.
So I tossed avocado with honey and lime juice.
And then candied tomato slices.
And then I made a basil anglaise and caramelized corn.
How did you treat the corn exactly? I just sliced it off the cob, caramelized sugar, and just Thank you.
Thanks.
I want to call this dish "back to my roots.
" We've got a sweet potato risotto, a golden beet sorbet, and some sweet fried ginger-infused carrot.
Hmm.
That's got a lot of beet flavor.
Thank you.
Thanks, Morgan.
Yigit, tell us about your creation.
All right, I made a chocolate cremeux with a little bacon fat and some caramelized Foie gras garnished with a little sea salt.
And then I just put a little bit of pink peppercorn for color as well.
I wanted to do a nice, light, refreshing summer dessert.
And so on the bottom is a sour cream corn custard and then a roasted beet red Berry compote, and then I did a little mascarpone cream on top.
The berry and beet compote, was that cooked? The beets were cooked, but I didn't want to overcook it and make it mushy.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Heather.
Chef Michael, let's start with your least favorite desserts.
Danielle, I almost thought that your dessert wasn't even sweet enough, and the corn seemed a little raw.
And, Eric, your dessert was probably the least dessert-like of all.
I mean, even you said that it was kind of inspired by breakfast.
And your prosciutto was kind of just an afterthought.
And, Heather, the way it was layered, we couldn't really taste the bacon, and some of your beets were a little undercooked.
Now, who are your top three choices? I would have to say Morgan.
I really appreciate the risk that you took by using liquid nitrogen for the first time.
Thank you.
Zac I thought your cake was beautiful.
It was warm.
It was moist.
You really got the beet flavor.
Thanks.
And then Yigit-- awesome refined plates, and you went bold and used both Foie gras and bacon.
Thanks, Chef.
So of those three, who was your favorite? I would have to say Zac.
OhFinally.
[laughs.]
Whoo! Always a bridesmaid, never a bride until today.
I am no longer the Susan Lucci of Top Chef: Just Desserts.
[Sighs.]
Whoo! And it means so much more coming from Michael Laiskonis.
He's amazing.
Congratulations, Zac.
That means you have immunity in our next elimination challenge.
Whoo! Unless you'd like some cash instead.
How much are we talking? Are you willing to trade your immunity for $1,000? So now you're negotiating with me? I like your style.
There's one more Chef gone.
There's a little bit more at stake.
I'm this much closer to $100,000.
So I'm not just going to take the $1,000.
Would you be willing to trade it for $5,000? 5k, buddy.
Do it, do it, do it, do it.
I'll do it for 5.
[laughs.]
I will trade my immunity for $5,000.
Ok.
[bleep.]
.
You now have $5,000 furnished by Dawn Hand Renewal and will not have immunity in the next elimination challenge.
Let's see if you made the right decision.
I feel great that I finally won something, but since I sold my immunity, now I'm nervous.
And immediately I regret it.
For your next elimination challenge [Screams.]
The L.
A.
Times is one of the oldest institutions in Los Angeles.
Tomorrow night, they're celebrating their 128th year with a black and white party for staff and friends.
For your next elimination challenge, you'll be catering the event with desserts that must all be Black and white.
[Screams.]
I hate white foods.
There's a lot of creepy white foods like mayonnaise.
Even saying mayonnaise makes my body go "uugh!" It's just so disgusting.
Just like a newspaper headline, all of the things that you make must be only black and white.
And you'll want to use that contrast to your advantage.
Remember, just because your palette of color is limited doesn't man your flavor has to be.
It's a difficult thing for a Pastry Chef to make a black and white dessert because we're constantly trained to use colors, because, as we say in turkey [speaks turkish.]
Which means that you should want to eat the food with your eyes before you eat it with your mouth.
Each of you will be responsible for making 200 black and white desserts.
You'll have $500 and 30 minutes to shop at Albertsons.
You'll then have four hours to prep here in the Top Chef kitchen and then one hour to prep before the event tomorrow.
Good luck.
I need some help.
I've never had to do anything that was just black and white.
Maybe it's under here.
I absolutely love color.
You know, all my desserts have some sort of color.
It makes me a little bit nervous.
[Laughs.]
I have absolutely no idea what I'm making, none.
Black and white food is going to be really tricky, especially for me.
I man, they don't make black disco dust.
Dear God, I will give you back the $5,000 for immunity.
Thanks, heart Zac.
18 minutes! I've been in the bottom a lot recently.
I usually used to it by now.
I'm just waiting to hear my name.
I mean, it bothers me, but I have to stop moping around.
Luckily, I am very confident with black and white food.
I work with chocolate.
I work with cream.
I'm going to do like a play on a Mississippi mud pie.
Ooh! I make all sorts of desserts that have that contrast.
So I totally feel like I have an advantage today.
[Beeping.]
Thank you.
Have a great day.
You too.
Thanks for your help.
Hey, Yigit, what are you doing? My hands are like a ninja.
You can't keep up, right? I'm a total news junkie.
So I do like the concept behind this challenge.
I'm going to try and stay true to the color palette.
So I'm making a flourless chocolate cake with layers of tempered dark and white chocolate, dark tea ganache, white mousse, and cherry compote with almond milk ice cream.
Are you copying me with the tea, Yigit? Yeah, you're onto me.
My sister, Yigit, you know, we're on the same wavelengths.
Shady lady.
However, even if you gave Yigit and myself the same ingredients, we could never make the same dessert.
You're not competition for me because we're completely [Bleep.]
Different.
Which is why I haven't killed him yet.
So your back is safe, boo boo.
Well, I'm glad to know that.
Tired already.
Oh, my God! Zac, close the freezer.
The headline I would give my dessert is local girl shows her pride for the newspaper of her city.
That's my theme.
My dish is literally celebrating the 128 years of the L.
A.
Times by making a truffle in the shape of a 1.
A baked meringue, number 2.
And then the 8 is two chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies.
1 hour 50 minutes.
Does this taste too bitter for you? It doesn't have the eggs in it yet.
No, I think it's fine.
The dish I'm making is a deep-fried whoopie pie.
I would never do that.
What I'm doing right now is just like some wrecked chocolate.
A deep-fried whoopie pie has been a signature dish of mine for a year or so.
I stumbled onto it by accident at the restaurant.
I think this is a great contender to win because I'm frying to order.
I mean, frying is exciting.
I really need to stop drinking before challenges.
Halfway through, things are not going well.
And I'm mixing the egg yolks with the sugar, and it's looking really thick.
And I realize I don't have enough egg yolks in this dish.
Are you out of the mixer? [Bleep.]
I just need to get on the mixer.
I'm hogging up the mixer, and Erica gets really mad at me, and I feel awful.
I've got a bowl.
I know.
I--I can't remember my freaking recipe.
So it was very stressful.
Jesus [Bleep.]
Christ.
Hey, Chefs! Hi, Chef.
Erica.
I'm doing a white chocolate blackberry pave.
So my blackberry is not as dark as I want it to be, but it's as dark as I can get it.
Removing the colors from the pantry of a pasty Chef changes the game entirely.
One of the biggest obstacles of the Chefs is incorporating flavor from different things that they want to use without actually introducing the color into the dessert.
It's purple more than black.
Got to be black.
I'll have great flavors, though.
Yeah? All right.
I hope so.
Yeah.
Hi, Chef.
Hey, Eric.
How are you? What's going on today? I want to do a Mississippi mud cake.
Is Mississippi mud something you make often in the bakery? Maybe four or five times a year.
But that's what I think of when I think black and white, and it's my style.
Just about every challenge, they ream me for my plating.
This challenge I really want to focus on the presentation and kind of make it more classy.
Hopefully, I'll be able to just give it a little more of a fancy flair.
Thank you, Chef.
Good luck.
Eric describes his dessert as his version of a Mississippi mud pie.
There's nothing so special about it.
It should be in the back pocket of every pasty Chef.
I don't know how he's going to elevate this.
Hey, Johnny, how are you? Hey, Heather.
I'm making a chocolate torte with a rich chocolate cake on the bottom.
The headline for my dish would be "the bold and the beautiful" because it's gonna be vibrant.
It's gonna be bold flavors, and hopefully it's gonna be beautiful to look at.
And then I made a gingerbread cake which I actually sprinkled some dried cranberries, some pomegranate juice.
Well, pomegranates and cranberries are red.
Hopefully, it's going to look more black than red.
Hope! I'm happy to see that Heather made her own gingerbread, but the thing that makes me a little scared is she's using cranberries and pomegranates.
That's bright red.
We're making a dessert that celebrates a newspaper.
I think of blocks and columns, and I have a dessert in my mind that celebrates that concept.
It's going to have a lot of components and a real architectural structure.
The black and white elements are toffee-soaked chocolate cake with banana anise cream.
The chocolate cake itself comes out very red from the cocoa powder.
However, once the toffee syrup soaks it, it takes on this real dark, shiny color.
Oh, God, that's like 80 pounds of cake.
8 minutes and 34 seconds.
Time is ending for prep, and my personal headline for myself would be "black girl is tired.
" I can't fold this.
I feel a little nervous about the blackberry being a lighter color, but I feel very confident about my ice cream.
I'm known for my ice creams back home, so know it's going to be great.
Both: it's Heather with an "h" not Heather with a "c" because Heather with a "c" goes ewww! [laughs.]
I'm going to [Bleep.]
Lose my mind.
After a loud, crazy day in the kitchen, you really don't want to be berated with show tunes and flamboyance.
Papa Nazi I'm definitely going to hurt somebody, and I'm going to get removed from the premises.
[Laughs.]
Why would it be on here, and then it's gone? Team "Go Diva," I don't trust them as far as I could throw them.
Hi, guys! [grunts.]
I could still thro pretty far.
Today's elimination challenge is a black and white gala to celebrate the L.
A.
Times' 128th Anniversary.
Heather, just a reminder.
These up here are my chocolates.
Everything's black and white decor.
They have these huge posters of the biggest headlines in our history.
My only concern when I see all the black and white is maybe I should have listened to Johnny as far as color, but there's nothing I can do at this point.
Heather, can I grab your burner? Yes, yes, grab it.
Thanks.
We have an hour to finalize our desserts.
The first thing I do is get my oil going.
Next, I have to individually batter and roll in panko 200 small whoopie pies.
23 minutes! How you doing, Morganza? This is a train wreck day.
Yesterday, I dumped a huge amount of syrup on the cake.
Son of a bitch.
Unfortunately, the syrup ran through the cake, and it didn't soak in.
So I've got to soak it again.
And at this point, I'm just trying to save it.
Nine minutes! Thank you, nine.
Nine? Time to hustle.
Today, on site I need to temper my ice cream, finish cooking my compote, and mainly start cutting my ganache and assembling all my many pieces of desserts together.
Yigit, what are you making? Chocolate mille feuille Napoleon.
As I like to say, you call it Napoleon, you charge 5 bucks.
You call it a french name, you charge 20 bucks.
I don't understand what Yigit does.
I can understand all the other Chefs, but Yigit I don't get.
I just see that he's cutting out little squares and cutting out little squares and assembling and assembling.
So he's got so much going on.
You got it, daddy.
I feel good about my food and the flavors.
And I'm definitely taking into consideration Chef Iuzzini's past comments about creating texture in the dessert.
Oh [Bleep.]
! My only concern is I think I may have cooked my compote a little bit too much.
It's a little bit thicker than I wanted it to be.
Has anybody seen a hashi pan of white chocolate rice krispie treats? I saw one yesterday on Yigit's rack, I thought.
Now it's gone.
I can't really prove anything, but I think Morgan is trying to sabotage me.
I don't trust him.
Why would it be on here, and then it's gone? If you're talented, you can play fair and still come out on top.
It's gone.
I don't know what is going on around here.
Apparently, Heather Can't find her pans.
I saw them last night when we packed them.
Yeah, I know.
And they all blame me for it.
That's bull.
Which is [Bleep.]
.
Team Go Diva, they're backstabbing 2-faced liars.
Must have legs 'cause it just walked away.
And I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.
I could still throw them pretty far.
14 seconds! [Grunts.]
Be ready.
Hi, how are you? This is a lemon poppy seed ice cream.
Wow.
Our guests show up, and it's like crazy.
And it was very neat to see everyone dressed in black and white.
It goes along great with the blackberries.
I'm scooping my ice cream to order just so that they can get a nice scoop.
And I think they're enjoying my drunken blackberries.
They're soaked in absolut overnight.
I thought everybody deserved a little shot this afternoon.
Hi, Yigit.
Hello.
I made a very, very moist chocolate cake, and it's a take on a mille feuille, obviously.
There's a dark chocolate plaque underneath and a dark tea ganache, a little white chocolate mousse and another white chocolate plaque tempered.
And I cooked dark cherries with some red wine, and then folded in some blackberries to make a blackberry cherry compote.
And I have a little bit of almond milk ice cream.
It's a lot of love on one little plate.
We like love.
Thank you, guys.
Enjoy.
Hi, Erica! So I have a lemon poppy seed ice cream, a white chocolate pave with a blackberry creme brulee, on top of a bisques cone that's brushed with a little bit of chocolate underneath.
I have just a little bit of dark chocolate on my dessert but not much.
I told you this is a black and white party, and you should maybe figure out a way to get it a little bit darker, so Yeah, but I didn't want to take that Berry flavor away.
Everybody else was doing dark chocolate.
You know, I'm taking a risk, and I hope you guys like it.
Thanks a lot.
The dark chocolate's kind of strong, though.
Yigit was so creative to make the fruit the thing that he tried to use as his black element.
As I dig into this compote, it's really thick and gummy.
And I have a feeling he over-reduced it, trying to get it sdark.
Yigit packed a lot into this little plate.
There's a lot here, but I think, at least individually, it all works.
The world of ganache is endless.
I like that Erica said, "everybody else is doing chocolate.
I want to do something different.
" That is an important thing in a big walkaround event like this.
But the ice cream has this strange flavor to it.
It takes a little like glue.
It's a little soapy.
That's right.
The word is spreading through the room that I have something deep frying.
So my plan is working out brilliantly.
Hi, Zac.
This is what I call "the whoopie pie goes on vacation.
" You know, I love deep frying.
So the whoopie pie is laying out on the beach getting nice and crisp.
It's had some tropical juices.
So it's filled with passion fruit cream.
We also have some guanabana-infused asian pear for texture and some of that tropical feeling.
My goodness.
You can hear Zac's voice over the crowd, ringing out.
This whoopie pie has a tan.
[echo.]
Tan tan It comes out with this Julie Andrews quality.
Hi, guys! As though he's singing it from the hilltops in the Swiss Alps.
The bigger the hair, the higher to Jesus.
Like, turn it off.
It gets old.
All mixed in.
I love that Zac brought in a lot of different flavors that you wouldn't necessarily associate with the whoopie pie.
The Asian pear, which I think is a lovely textural element, super white.
And then, of course, the passion fruit.
Unfortunately, the passion doesn't really come through that strong.
His cake is really sweet, and especially the cream filling inside is almost like liquid sugar.
It's a lot of heavy and sticky.
Hi, Morgan.
Hi there! When they print the newspaper, it's all in blocks and columns.
So I wanted to make my dessert in those same blocks and columns.
I made a version of sticky toffee pudding here.
So it's a chocolate date cake soaked with toffee syrup.
On top of that is some banana anise cream.
On top of that is just a small cube of coffee Kahlua jelly.
It's very South Beach.
It's a little bit South Beach.
Yeah, it's a little deco.
Thank you, guys.
Hi, how are you? What I'm doing is dark chocolate spicy torte.
And the spice comes from a layer of gingerbread in the center.
It's a dark chocolate cake on the bottom with dark chocolate ganache, vanilla cream on top, frozen creme anglaise with a little bit of Grand Marnier, a blackberry compote with a little bit of candied ginger, and then the chocolate lines represent the lines of the newspaper.
I do see some red on the plate.
Do you think you really grabbed a hold of that black and white? Yes, I still wanted to use those flavors to give it a richness to the gingerbread and the blackberry.
So Thank you so much, Heather.
Yes.
Doesn't Morgan's dessert look like a little building? It's elaborately constructed.
You know, I was really worried about Morgan's dessert being overly sweet.
It's the nature of the cake, but I think he did a good job with the anise and banana kind of pulling that back a little bit.
I find Morgan's cake really dry and not at all what I was expecting from a sticky toffee pudding.
It's like Morgan was loosely inspired by sticky toffee pudding.
I like the coffee flavor.
You know, I vocalized my concerns yesterday with Heather.
I was worried about the red.
I said, ok, maybe she'll bury it in the cake.
We'll taste it and not see it.
And, unfortunately, we do have a lot of red on our plate.
I like the gingerbread flavor.
That's the highlight for sure.
It's a tasty little number.
The gingerbread works so well with the chocolate.
Hello! Hi! How are you? Hi, Eric.
I've made a play on a Mississippi mud cake.
So at the bottom we have a cookie layer.
On top of that is a flourless chocolate cake.
On top of that, a chocolate pastry with whipped cream, a whip cream with a little tiny bit of Earl Grey flavor.
And this is a hot fudge sauce on the side.
Eric, I have to say, your plating skills Ah, thank you! I noticed.
You're working on it.
Working on the plating skills.
Thank you so much.
That means a lot to me.
Thank you.
For Gail to say that to me, I've struggled so hard with plating.
And now she's saying my plates look great.
And it's just-- it's a perfect moment.
Thank you.
Thanks so much, Eric.
Bye-bye.
Is it black and white? How do you feel about the contrast here, Johnny? You use a black cocoa powder to get it that dark.
The cream is white.
He's within the realm.
I think so, too.
I think it's pretty hard to get true black in the pastry world.
I think it's great that Eric's finally, like, finding his way out of his category of being a Baker.
And, you know, I would think this came from a Pastry Chef in a restaurant.
This is delicious.
I'm the only from L.
A.
so I wanted to be like extra L.
A.
! 128! Hi, Danielle.
Ok, so mine is the literal dessert because I'm literally celebrating the 128 years of the L.
A.
Times being in publication.
The "1" is a truffle that has lemongrass and ginger and a little coconut in it.
The "2" is a baked meringue that has white peppercorns and coconuts.
And then the "8" is a cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie.
Enjoy.
Thank you.
Looking around the room, I feel Danielle might go home today.
Her plate isn't a dessert, it's kindf a series of petifores.
Honestly, it looks kind of like an amateur mistake.
I'm not one to talk smack.
I'm impressed with Danielle's playfulness.
She really did something completely different here.
But something to me about this presentation, it's not cohesive.
It's not a composed dessert.
It's almost like a petifore plate.
And, as a whole, I feel Danielle's dessert is sweet across the board.
Um, not so good.
[laughs.]
I think we're going to have a really hard time making a decision tonight.
Let's go back to the judge's table and see what we come up with.
I don't think there was a bad dish that we had tonight.
Made me happy.
Made us happy.
It's orgasmic.
Awesome.
I'm really confident about the flavors of my dessert.
The guests love it, and several of them said that it was their favorite dessert.
I like the delicacy between the various layers.
I'd say 95% of it was black and white.
But I'm still worried.
I've never been in the bottom three during an elimination challenge.
And I don't want to have to start today.
All: Yay! Yay! It didn't really taste like much.
That's actually a cop out.
[Laughs.]
Eat that one.
Could you come here, please? We need to have an intervention.
On team diva, we have a lot of inside jokes.
Dear, Zac, I know that in that tiny little body of yours, there's even a tinier little girl dying to come out.
[Laughs.]
It hurts me to see you in the kitchen.
You have no talent! I always mess with Zac because he's definitely a bit of a Frankenstein Pastry Chef.
He's like a very flamboyant man with a very butch palette.
So, will you please go to the clinic? I--I can't do it.
Oh, come on now! Let go.
I have to go.
[Laughter.]
Anyone else have anything missing off their racks today? You had something missing? Heather's-- I did.
Rice krispies.
You did? Did it materialize? No, and it's kind of, like, really shocking.
Hi.
All: Hi.
Hey, Gail.
We'd like to see Heather, Erica, and Danielle.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Wow.
Whatever.
[Sighs.]
I shouldn't have sacrificed immunity.
My insides are shaking, ladies and gentlemen.
Happy thoughts have fled the building.
[Sighs.]
[Suspensefeful music.]
Chefs, yours were our least favorite desserts this evening.
And, unfortunately, one of you will be going home tonight.
Let's start with you, Heather.
Are you surprised to be here? I'm not sure.
Was your dessert how you envisioned it? Yeah, yeah.
I was happy with it, yeah.
Heather, this challenge was all about black and white, and your dessert seemed more like harvesty and just visually it wasn't black and white.
I was trying to integrate some different flavors in there, have the flavors really show through.
I appreciated your flavors.
I thought the gingerbread flavor was great.
I'm just wondering if you stuck to your guns on what you were trying to accomplish without adapting to the actual challenge.
Erica.
The blackberry creme brulee wasn't as dark as I wanted it to be.
But I love my lemon poppy seed ice cream.
Nice and creamy the way I wanted it.
You love that ice cream? I enjoyed it.
It was nice and light.
It's not a texture issue.
It's a flavor issue.
It didn't taste like lemon at all.
That ice cream tasted a little bit like soap.
It was really disappointing.
I was intrigued by your decision to use blackberry.
Yet we almost didn't feel like you exploited it enough.
The blackberry layer that you called a creme brulee, I couldn't find the blackberry at all.
Danielle.
It's just hard when you do things you like, like the way it tastes.
It was black and white.
I thought it was fitting to what the actual event was.
Danielle, the meringue didn't really taste like much.
Essentially, I would have to ask if you thought about how each of those 3 components United and came together.
I guess, and perhaps that's what got me in trouble, I thought of it more creatively.
You know, that's actually a cop out, saying you were being creative and you weren't thinking-- did you eat your 1-2-8 in order? I didn't eat it in order.
But I think that's something you should have taken consideration of.
You should have said, "I have 3 different things.
Maybe I should figure out what's the best way to eat them in" and then instruct the diners to then eat them that way.
That way, they get the most pact from your flavors.
You can return to the stew room.
And if you could please call back all the guys.
Thank you.
I knew I should have just draped everything in feuille mille.
[Laughs.]
I thought I liked my dish, though.
I liked my dish, too.
I liked mine.
I liked mine.
I really liked yours, and I'm not just saying that.
No, I know.
It really was delicious.
But it doesn't matter.
And it was black and white.
And Danielle's plate, I don't-I don't know, it was a 1, a meringue, 2, an 8 cookie-- I have no idea what it was, I couldn't get it.
It's silly.
It just sucks to think that one dish-- could send you home.
They want to see all of you.
Oh, come on.
All right, boys.
I'm not ready for this [Bleep.]
.
None of my [Bleep.]
Ever tasted like soap.
So, Danielle[laughs.]
Eat that one.
The thing that sucks is I don't want the boys to Dominate.
[Suspenseful music.]
You were the four best desserts tonight.
[Sighs.]
Congratulations.
Thank God.
[laughs.]
Zac, you gave up immunity for $5,000.
You still happy you did that? Now I am.
[laughter.]
Zac, I love the way your mind works.
And what partygoer wouldn't want to devour a whoopie pie on vacation? Then when we cut into the whoopie pie and saw that beautiful black and white and creaminess, it really embraced the theme.
Thanks.
Zac, you hit a homerun with your ice cream today.
The cameo was just enough.
It held up against the chocolate.
Thank you.
Morgan, blocks and white.
I was impressed with the confidence at which you attacked the challenge.
Thank you.
Morgan, your dessert was a construction project.
It looked fantastic.
The tastes were delicious.
And I was really impressed.
Thank you very much.
Eric.
I was really impressed with the way that you layered all the textures and the way that those textures combine together in one cohesive package.
Thank you, thank you.
Eric, you've come so far.
Oh! This is the best dessert you've given us so far.
Thank you.
You've done a great job in adapting your style to the challenges.
Thank you.
Yigit.
You packed so much into that dessert, Yigit.
It was technically complex, and it really stood out.
You definitely showed us what you're capable of.
My favorite part was that hidden plaquette of chocolate that gave you that texture as you went through everything.
Tasted great.
Thank you.
Well, Michael, as our guest judge, please announce the winner.
It was a very tough decision.
But the winner was the one who best embraced the spirit of the challenge and showed us the greatest technical skill.
And the winner is Yigit.
[Applause.]
Thank you.
I feel great.
I finally tasted the forbidden fruit.
My first elimination challenge win, and it tasted pretty bloody good.
Congratulations, Yigit.
[sighs.]
You can all return to the stew room.
Thank you, Chefs.
I think people definitely see me as a good competitor in this.
And I'm definitely feeling good about being here, as good as I'll feel about being in the final three.
Yay! [laughs.]
[Sighs.]
You ready to go? Good for you, buddy.
Good for you.
Good job.
There were a lot of flaws made by each of these 3 Chefs.
I think Danielle didn't think enough about how the guests were going to eat her dessert.
Besides the fact that I think it was just light in flavor.
Rule number one in pastry and all cooking is that presentation comes second.
She was creative, but she put that creativity before the flavor and how the diner experiences the dish.
I don't know how to cook for another palette other than mine.
I don't know what else to do.
Erica's dessert, she put blackberry and several different components which I didn't get a blackberry taste from at all.
And then there was, of course, her poppy seed and lemon ice cream.
That ice cream was unappealing, it was flat.
I had one bite, and I said, "that can't be right.
" The ice cream was definitely Erica's downfall.
"Well, your ice cream tastes like soap.
" Tastes like soap? I make ice cream my entire career, and I live off of ice cream.
Heather seemed to really rely on the fact that she has this technical skill, but I thought the overall concept sort of fell flat.
I sense that Heather has a stubbornness that she's pretty much fixated on what she's going to do regardless of the challenge.
I thought her ginger flavor was great, but it wasn't in any way inventive or interesting to look at or to eat.
Well, it sounds like we've made our decision.
Think so.
Let's bring them out here.
[Suspenseful music.]
Chefs, your black and white desserts were our least favorites tonight, and that means one of you is going home.
Danielle, this is far from the first time we've seen you in the bottom three.
You presented us with a dish that you stood behind.
Unfortunately, we had a lot of issues with it.
Heather, you put out the dessert that you wanted to put out without embracing the challenge.
We know what you're capable of, but yet you find a way to sabotage yourself.
Erica, one of the star components of your dish just tasted bad.
I think you over-think what you're doing, and you forget about the most important thing, the flavor.
Erica, your dessert just didn't measure up.
Please pack your tools and go.
Thank you.
I put everything that I have in these desserts here.
My heart, my soul, passion, love.
And I'm very proud of what I did.
I beat you, baby.
Margaritas.
Are you serious? I'm going to miss my new friends.
I'm proud to be in the company of their great talents.
I made it this far, and it made me realize that I'm a lot stronger than what I thought I was going to be.
Miss you too.
If I can handle this, I can handle anything.
Bye, guys.
You be good.
I've learned to continue to be real to myself, and I'm very proud of myself.
Next time on Top Chef: Just Desserts.
[Whistling.]
Team diva's on one side, and team loser is on the other side.
Feel the burn! This is gonna be easy for me.
We're putting a sweet spin on Top Chef restaurant wars.
Yes! Yigit took them all.
I did not take your lemons.
Yigit's a great cook, but he's a selfish prick, too.
[Bleep.]
You and all the bitch-ass [Bleep.]
In this [Bleep.]
Room.
Jesus Christ all [Bleep.]
Mighty! Who put this-is this--? Zac? I feel like this might be the end of team diva.
Shut up.
Did you just tell me to shut up?